ICTC2017: Speakers and Moderators - Insurance-Canada.ca

Session: Architecting an Agile Enterprise

Samir Ahmed is a Principal and Senior Architect at X by 2. He has spent over a decade advising client leadership on their technology strategies and providing program and architecture leadership for the delivery of strategic business application and enterprise integration initiatives in the Insurance, Healthcare, Financial Services and Retail industries. Mr. Ahmed holds dual bachelor's degrees in computer science and computer engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Session: Business Analytic Disruption

With 29 years of experience at both IBM and Information Builders, James leads insurance executive visioning and solution design efforts concentrating on our 100 North American Insurance customers as well as prospects. Leveraging prebuilt insurance business warehouse applications and custom work James helps insurers leverage insight across all areas of: customer facing, channel facing, marketing, underwriting, pricing, reserving, claims, operations, and finance for a broad range of insurers. This requires strong insurance specific capabilities in BI, predictive, integration, big data and data management guided by strong insurance business impact and leadership.

James holds an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University. When not speaking passionately about insurance business information opportunities, James helps lead the Executive board at Conrad Grebel College, assists a charitable foundation for kids and chases trout with a fly rod.

Session: InsurTech and MatureTech: Blending the New with the Old

Mark Breading, a Partner and Chief Research Officer at SMA, is a recognized expert in advanced technologies and their implications for the insurance industry. His specialty areas include the customer experience and analytics. He has exceptional knowledge and experience in many dimensions of the customer/producer experience, including omni-channel, customer communications, mobile technologies, CRM, digital content management, and contact centers. He has broad experience and insights in data and analytics, including business intelligence, advanced analytics, and big data.

Mark has more than 30 years of insurance and information technology experience in a variety of leadership roles. Mark is well known for his perspectives on innovative uses of technology in insurance and the future of the insurance industry. Mark leads the research program at SMA, and has exceptional knowledge and experience in all aspects of advanced technologies and solutions that provide value across the insurance enterprise – including analytics, customer communications, enterprise content management, telematics, and mobile technologies.

He has held both technical and business roles in sales, consulting, marketing, and business strategy, including roles as IBM's Global Insurance Strategist, Global Insurance Marketing Leader, and Director of Global Executive Conferences for insurance and banking. In these roles, he has advised C-level executives around the world.

Mark is a graduate of Bucknell University with a BSBA in Accounting and a graduate of IBM's Systems Research Institute with a major in Software Systems. He also holds an MBA in International Business from Liberty University.

Session: What an Insurer Must Do To Retain Clients

Sue Britton is CEO & Founder of the Fin+Tech Growth Syndicate, a Canadian company that accelerates the pace of innovation and growth for financial institutions and up and coming FinTech companies through products and services that facilitate partnering and enable innovation.

Sue is an experienced and passionate corporate innovator and intrapreneur, with over 20 years of experience innovating within some of the largest FinTech companies in the world. Her company has deep expertise in developing partnerships, running corporate innovation programs, selling to the financial services market, co-creation of new ideas with financial institutions, and go-to-market commercialization strategies.

Prior to founding her own company, Sue was Vice President & Head of Global Innovation for D+H, the 21st largest FinTech company in the world. She was SVP and General Manager of a start-up business unit she created for Broadridge, and held executive roles in sales and product at Symcor Services Inc., Xerox Global Services and Four Seasons Hotels.

Session: Big Commercial Disruption: A Case Study

Alex Callahan is the Director of Client Strategy & Business Development at Federated Insurance. He leads the company's association relationship management team and manages the National Accounts sales team. As a member of the executive team, he is also responsible for the development and execution of corporate strategy.

Federated Insurance provides specialized risk management and insurance services to Canadian businesses through its national network of captive agents. Alex joined the company in 2014 after spending five years at Federated's parent company Northbridge Financial. He serves on the board of the Ontario Home Builders' Association as Treasurer.

Alex has an honours undergraduate degree in commerce with a focus on accounting and finance from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and a master's degree in business administration with a focus on finance and strategy from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Alex lives in Toronto, Ontario with his wife Lea.

Session: Core System & InsurTech Fusion: Catalyst for Innovation & Transformation

Mike has been recognized as one of the 50 most influential people in InsurTech, and leads Silicon Valley Insurance Accelerator (SVIA), the insurance industry's first open innovation outpost. Through SVIA and his work as Chair for the Insurance Disrupted Conference Series, he helps bring together the people, ideas, and investments forging the digital future of insurance. The next conference is Sep 7-8, and explores the strategic impact of next gen Big Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence. Join us.

He is also author of Competing for the Digital Future, a Leadership Training Program for Digital Strategy and Transformation and "Creating Insanely Great Customers" a book about customer focused innovation, which is full of lessons learned from his days as an early Apple employee. Mike is a visionary business leader with a passion for creating customer value by changing how industries innovate and transform emerging technology into business momentum.

Session: Accelerating Insurance Transformation: The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Innovation Partnerships

Mike Fitzgerald is a senior analyst with Celent's Insurance practice and is based in Cary, North Carolina. He has specific expertise in property/casualty automation, operations management and insurance product development. Mike's research focuses on billing, business process and operations, social media use in insurance, and distribution management.

Mike brings extensive industry experience to the analyst role. Prior to joining Celent, he was vice president of enterprise underwriting solutions at Zurich North America, where he led the evaluation of technology alternatives to support a new underwriting product development process. He held a number of positions at Royal & Sun Alliance, including a field operations regional executive role. His technology implementation experience includes the installation and maintenance of billing, automobile policy administration, and workers compensation automation. In the 1990s, Mike led an initiative which delivered one of the first global online technical underwriting and claims learning platforms in the industry.

Mr. Fitzgerald has a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Davidson College and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Session: Big Commercial Disruption: A Case Study

Kevin Forestell is the CEO and co-founder of Dozr, an online heavy equipment marketplace connecting machinery owners with builders and farmers in need of equipment. Prior to starting Dozr in 2015, Forestell was president of Forestell Designed Landscapes, which he also founded. It was there that he grew frustrated seeing bulldozers, tractors and other heavy equipment sit idle during the winter. Rather than accept the off-season lull as a fact of life, Dozr was invented to provide an outlet for owners to generate revenue from their underused equipment.

Session: Technology Award Nominations: Behind the Scenes
Session: Technology Award Nominations: Behind the Scenes (II)

A keen analyst of computer and networking evolution for more than 30 years, Doug is cognizant of the changes that are occurring in the Internet insurance world and their impact on the industry.

He has been helping the insurance industry in Canada make effective use of technology for many years. From a business-impact and application perspective, he has helped individual companies and cross-industry groups in both Property & Casualty and Life insurance.

Doug is a founding partner in Insurance-Canada.ca, a leading Canadian insurance resource centre for consumers and insurance professionals alike. As a frequent industry speaker, columnist and consultant, he brings a unique perspective to his sessions and discussions.

Session: Managing Uncertainty Through Location Intelligence

Jean-Sebastien Guy is Vice-President of Sales at Korem, with responsibility for business strategy, brand management, and corporate sponsorships.

Prior to joining Korem, he worked in account management and business development at Esri Canada for 10 years, and served in staff positions within Quebec provincial government.

Jean-Sebastien is a past member of the board of directors of the Quebec Geomatics Municipal Association. He is also an advocate for Geospatial Intelligence, a topic that he promotes through frequent speaking sessions and by collaborating in industry related magazine.

Session: Creating a Culture of Innovation in a Disruptive World

Craig has been leading the charge for corporate innovation in Canada for the past few years. His work with Canadian Tire Innovations helped launch the corporate innovation program at Communitech which helps large, non-tech companies become faster and more innovative by engaging in the startup technology ecosystem. As the Head of Corporate Innovation at Communitech, Craig helps the big companies be more innovative through the writing of his Blog, the Nimble Hippo, as well as his podcast, Nimble Hippo Radio.

Craig helps large organizations understand the most effective way to launch and maintain an innovation strategy by leveraging technology ecosystems. By connecting Enterprise organizations to start ups and high growth companies, our focus is to grow the entire ecosystem by exposing our small companies to big problems that they can solve for some of Canada's largest companies.

Craig has an undergraduate degree from Western University (London, Ontario), a Masters of Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technonogy (MBET) from the University of Waterloo. He has been part of leadership teams of large and small companies leading change initiatives wherever he has gone.

MC for the Technology Conference and ICTA awards ceremony

Jim Harris is one of North America's foremost management consultants, public speakers, authors and thinkers on change and leadership.

He has 20 years experience as a professional speaker and consultant, and speaks internationally at more than 40 conferences a year on topics including innovation and creativity, customer relationship management (CRM), eLearning, creating learning organizations, environmental leadership, energy efficiency, strategic planning, and creating common organizational mission and vision.

His most recent book, Blindsided! is a #1 international bestseller, having hit the top spot on the Financial Times of London's European Edition of Best Business Books.

He is also principal at Strategic Advantage. He previously held positions as partner at Cleantech Group and affiliate at Covey Leadership Centre.

In addition to his speaking and consulting engagements and books, Jim Harris writes for a number of publications, including the Globe and Mail, Profit magazine and Backbone magazine.

Session: What Lessons Can Broker-Based Insurers Draw From Direct Carriers?

Philip Henville is the Head of Canadian Operations for Hubio. He has over 15 years experience with Hubio and predecessor companies, including roles as the Vice President Professional Services, Vice President of Product Development, and SVP Solutions. He is responsible for Hubio's broad range of insurer solutions, including Portals, Broker Connectivity and Regulatory Reporting products and services, and has successfully directed over 30 insurer/broker software implementations. Prior to joining Hubio Phil held various senior roles within the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

Phil speaks regularly at insurance industry events, including the recent Telematics Update conference in Chicago, and has presented at prior Insurance-Canada.ca events.

Session: Technology Award Nominations: Behind the Scenes (II)

Robin Ingle, CEO of Ingle International, Novus Health, and Intrepid 24/7, has worked in the insurance industry for over 35 years. Robin has an in-depth understanding of the Canadian health care system and an intimate knowledge of the insurance industry.

His Group of Companies represents major insurers across Canada and around the world, offering a variety of travel health insurance options for travelling Canadians, international students, worldwide travellers, visitors to Canada, and travellers to high-risk destinations.

The Ingle Group was the first in Canada to create a health insurance plan for new immigrants in Canada and a travel insurance plan for Canadian Snowbirds. Today, the Ingle Group provides customized insurance solutions, health care resources, and emergency medical and security assistance to worldwide travellers.

Robin's expertise is an invaluable resource for government agencies, consumers, and the insurance industry. He also provides unbiased advice to groups and individuals looking for the right insurance products, and participates in numerous talk shows, seminars, and lectures in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Session: Creating Content Out of Contacts: Measuring the Customer Experience through Advanced Analytics

Session: InsurTech and MatureTech: Blending the New with the Old
Session: Technology Award Nominations: Behind the Scenes

Alice is leading Economical's IT organization through the policy administration system (PAS) implementation and other strategic projects. She is a seasoned IT executive with extensive public and private sector experience and was named to the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in 2004 and 2007. She is highly skilled at negotiating and managing large-scale projects with external business partners, and has significant expertise leading major business technology transformations, establishing effective governance frameworks, and building high-performance teams. With more than 25 years of senior leadership experience, Alice is helping Economical to leverage leading-edge technology and drive innovation in our business model.

Dave brings over 15 years of technology and business strategy experience to FairVentures through various roles in startups, hyper-growth, and multinational technology companies. Dave brings his passion for customer delight, in-depth understanding of technology, product and market strategy and his ability to successfully deliver solutions to market. Most recently, Dave held several senior management positions at Desire2Learn, a global educational software technology firm headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario. At D2L Dave was responsible for mobile strategy, strategic product management, as well as leading the 'personal learning' product development department.

Dave joined D2L when they acquired Metranome, the software startup he founded in 2007. Metranome developed a cloud-based content management and monetization platform for smartphones. Dave started Metranome while he was Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Tech Capital Partners, an early stage Venture Capital firm based out of Waterloo Ontario.

Prior to that, he spent seven years in product management roles at Research In Motion (BlackBerry). During that time he led the development of solutions for ISPs and mobile operators; overseeing technology, partnerships and marketing. Dave also defined the overall BlackBerry solution for the consumer and SMB markets and was responsible for the development and commercialization of several components of the BlackBerry solution.

Session: Behind the Wheel of Disruption: What's Driving Your Consumers?

As Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, Andrew Lo leads all marketing and corporate development initiatives for Kanetix Ltd., Canada's largest online marketplace for insurance and financial services. He is also a Business Strategy Advisor for Ryerson University's DMZ helping to develop entrepreneurs and startup companies at Canada's largest startup incubator.

Andrew has many years of experience as a business and technology leader for FinTech companies such as Filogix and D+H, and has developed organizations from startups into industry shaping ventures with over 4,000 employees.

Session: Digital Insurance Done Right (Featuring Assumption Life)

Andrea Masterton has been with eSignLive™ since 1999 and holds the position of Corporate Marketing Director. In this role, she oversees industry marketing strategy, market awareness and demand generation within key industry segments, specifically insurance, banking and financial services. Andrea's 15 year experience in the electronic signature market includes producing more than one hundred educational webcasts and seminars, authoring dozens of white papers, and active participation in industry electronic signature and process improvement workgroups such as ACORD, Life Brokerage Technology Committee, Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association and IRI.

Session: InsurTech and MatureTech: Blending the New with the Old

Jeanne Merola is senior vice president, HSB Group Transformation. She is facilitating the multi-year, group-wide transformation to modernize and optimize the delivery of products, services and data. Prior to that she was chief operations officer for the Treaty Division since 2005 focused on enhancing operational effectiveness, efficiency and client responsiveness and also had responsibility for the administrative and process management functions supporting HSB's insurance businesses since 2000.

Previously, Ms. Merola was senior vice president and chief administrative officer of HSB's insurance business beginning in 2000. Before that she was senior vice president of strategic and business planning for HSB, a position she was appointed to in September 1999. Ms. Merola joined Hartford Steam Boiler in July 1987 as director of financial information. She progressed through a number of positions of increasing responsibility as assistant vice president of financial, second vice president and vice president of the company's commercial insurance operations.

Ms. Merola began her career as an auditor with Coopers and Lybrand in Hartford, Conn. in December of 1975. She joined Emhart Corporation in 1979 where she held several positions in financial and strategic planning.

A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Ms. Merola holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting. She is a former certified public accountant. Ms. Merola is a past chair of the University of Saint Joseph board of trustees and has been involved with the Women of Merit Fundraiser since its inception. She is a former treasurer for the Connecticut Valley Girl Scouts.

Session: Digital Strategies for Insurance Customer Acquisition, Retention and Engagement

Razi Parvez has more than 18 years of experience in Business & IT Strategy, Business Process Redesign, and Business Value Creation. He has successfully launched and implemented IT Products, Services and Solutions for Insurance customers in functional business areas such as Policy Administration, Claims, Billing and Analytics. His background includes stints in management and customer facing roles with companies such as iGATE (now part of Cap Gemini), Tata Group and Kumaran Systems.

Razi has an MBA in Marketing Management and Bachelor's degree in Engineering.

Session: Ripe For Disruption? Navigating The Hype Around #InsurTech And Blockchain

Senior Economist at Willis Towers Watson's Research and Innovation Center with over 15 years of experience in R&D and international consulting. Magda holds a PhD in Quantitative Economics and Finance and was the firm's Head of Research and Analytical Services. She currently focuses on strategic consulting for the Insurance Industry, especially around emerging markets, #insurtech and blockchain. Her main areas of expertise include internationalization processes, technology and innovation, emerging markets, global governance, macroeconomic and sociopolitical risks. Magdalena has over 12 years of teaching experience at German and Uruguayan universities. She has presented at various international conferences and summits and has several publications in her areas of expertise. She also executed many research projects for multilateral organizations on microinsurance, financial inclusion and innovation.

Session: Fireside Chat: Omni-Channel – How the Customer Chooses to Engage

Chief Strategist of the Fintech Growth Syndicate, Carrie is a product and business design expert and renowned brand builder of consumer and B2B Financial Services and Fintech companies.

Whether as a coach and advisor to incubators and start-ups, or as a former senior executive and CMO at TD Bank and D+H, Carrie has witnessed and steered the digital transformation from the front seat. She is an accomplished solution innovator and value proposition architect, with success in creating timely and differentiated customer solutions enabled by leading technology and relevant customer engagement.

Today Carrie is a partner in a fintech advisory firm where she helps incumbent firms craft and execute their innovation and growth strategies, and is a hands-on coach to Fintech founders and CEOs on building and testing stand-out value-propositions, go to market strategies and partnering with financial institutions for growth.

Session: Tales of Machine Learning, Analytics at the Edge and Deep Learning

Kelly is a Senior Analytics Solutions Architect offering expertise in Machine Learning, Text Mining, Web Analytics, Image Analysis, Model Lifecycle Management with emphasis on Recommendation Systems. He builds solutions using distributed file systems like Hadoop, and real-time model integration on "in flight" data. Within his role in the SAS Global Analytics Practice he provides sales support, enablement, and consulting on enterprise projects to both internal and external customers across all industries.

Kelly's background is quite varied but he has focused largely in insurance, and retail sectors. He is passionate about building complex customer solutions leveraging the complete SAS portfolio. Kelly has 18 years of first-hand experience working in consulting, sales and also as a consumer of analytics software, which gives him a unique perspective to solving problems.

Kelly served as a litigated claims adjuster, P&C insurance expert system specialist addressing solutions for bodily injury estimation and fraud. Kelly holds a Bachelor's degree from University of Central Oklahoma in Finance and a Master's Degree from Oklahoma City University in Business Administration. Kelly has been an actor in several television commercials, feature films and TV shows that you have never heard of.

He currently lives in Austin, TX.

Session: Fireside Chat: Omni-Channel – How the Customer Chooses to Engage

Jason Storah was appointed Executive Vice President, Broker Distribution for Aviva Canada on January 1, 2016. In this role Jason leads broker distribution nationally with the regional Senior Vice Presidents reporting directly to him.

Since joining Aviva in 2004, Jason has worked across a number of business and finance related roles, most recently as Senior Vice President, Broker Distribution Ontario Region, prior to this he held the roles of Chief Risk Officer, Senior Vice President, Traders & National Brokers and Senior Vice President, Strategic Development.

Prior to joining Aviva, Jason held a number of business and operations roles at RSA in North America, South America and Europe. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Newcastle University in the UK, and he speaks fluent Spanish.

Session: InsurTech: Hype or Real?

Jeff is the Global Head of Insurance at Salesforce, driving growth in Salesforce's insurance business unit. He leads the industry business growth strategy, solution vision/roadmap, go-to-market, enablement, and ecosystems.

Jeff personally invests himself in his customers' success -- taking a hands-on approach to helping business and IT leaders re-think digital experiences for their employees and customers.

Jeff seeks to push the envelope on digital transformation across the financial services industry. He founded the Dreamforce FinTech Garage, a Davos-like experience for over 250 thought-leaders from financial services, startups, and venture capital.

If you're a change agent, check out www.fintechgarage.com.

Patrick is a founding partner of Insurance-Canada.ca with more than 25 years of experience enabling technology and electronic commerce in the risk management and insurance communities.

Patrick currently serves as Insurance-Canada.ca's Director of Products and Services and sits on the company's Advisory Board. He edits the Intersection, Insurance-Canada.ca's blog, produces and hosts on-line and in-person events, and develops bespoke offerings for Insurance-Canada.ca's clients.

Prior to his current role, Patrick held positions of increasing scope and responsibility with insurance companies, consulting firms, and technology solution providers. He served as Director of Information Technology for the Frank Cowan Company Limited, Canada's premier provider of public entity risk management and insurance services, where he carried management responsibility for all information technology development, infrastructure, and support.

Throughout his career, Patrick has held senior management positions with insurance companies, distributors, consulting firms, and technology solution providers. He serves on boards and committees of various industry associations.

Patrick authors articles for leading trade publications and has spoken at insurance and technology conferences in Canada, the US, UK, Europe, and Bermuda.

Session: Customer Experience and Faster Payments for the On-Demand Economy

Duane is an excellent speaker and a leader in the payments industry. He develops innovative payments solutions that offer Canadians secure, quick and convenient ways to pay using Interac products and services. His primary focus is Interac e-Transfer, which is Canada's leading digital money transfer platform.

Duane is a seasoned product management professional with over 15 years of experience. With a passion for money movement, Duane has helped develop products that are used by millions of customers worldwide.

15th Annual Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference

ICTC2017 Faculty

Presenters, Panelists and Moderators

Samir Ahmed

Craig Arnatt

James Barber

Mark Breading

Sue Britton

Alex Callahan

Michael Connor

Mike Fitzgerald

Kevin Forestell

Doug Grant

Jean-Sébastien Guy

Craig Haney

Jim Harris

Philip Henville

Robin Ingle

Jon Kelso

Alice Keung

Dave Kruis

Georges Leger

Andrew Lo

Cindy Maike

Andrea Masterton

Emma Mehler

Jeanne Merola

Cletus Nunes

Razi Parvez

Marc Philips

Magda Ramada

Carrie Russell

Kelly Southall

Jason Storah

SrinivasThota

Jeff To

Patrick Vice

Duane Williams

Topic Outlines

ICTC2018 Sponsors